Around Here Eighteen: 04/28-05/04

A glimpse into what it is like to live in our home just this minute

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 98+hours (of 1000)
Baseball and half marathon training accounted for most of our hours this week because we kind of hand an odd chilly/rainy week right when we were really settling into Spring.  bleh.  It was mostly low 40's and so windy - kind of a bummer for screen free week - but we got some time clocked outside and it really reminded us to be thankful for warmer temps soon (hopefully! eek!)

Reading and finishing The Gift of an Ordinary Day by Katrina Kenison I really loved this book and it felt so timely with the way my soul has been settling at this stage in my life.  There's so much in this book that I'd like to comment on - it will be one that I hang on to so I can read it again later - but the chapter entitled Pansies has been one that I have been mulling over for the past couple of days.  Actually, one quote in particular is swirling into an entire blog post of it's own...so look forward to that one soon.

Baseballin.' Grey had three games this past week (one cancelled game for weather) and Gem had two teeball games.  Booboo had an in-the-park homer on Friday night, a fly catch, and ran down to runners to get them out at home plate! He was soaring pretty high until then they finally got their first two losses of the season later in the week. He was seriously bummed and said he wanted to say "undeaftable" for the whole season. hah! Gem is doing better each week at teeball and even had a few grounder-stops at the pitcher's mound.  They've blown through their birthday money at the concession stand already this year (HAHAHAH) so now they've moved on to scrounging up quarters to take to the games.  Concession Stand = Life, man.

Adopting a new pet!  We were excited to take custody of my mum's huge bottom feeder fish and he's been moved in successfully and newly named 'Harold' and the kids are infatuated with him, Violet especially.  She checks in on him multiple times during the day and likes to report back where he is in the tank and what's he's sucking on (hah).  So, we're up to two dogs, one cat, one hamster, and three fish.  #animalhoarders almost

Celebrating Screen Free Week and loving.it bigtime.  I'll have a whole post about it later this week, but suffice to say I got so many things done around here that have been weighing on my mind simply because I didn't feel social media pressure (seriously, that's a thing today).  I felt so intentional and connected to the kids and our home.  It was liberating (yet again! like every year!) and I'm so grateful we participate.

Getting rid of all the kids' toys.  I snapped one afternoon, pulled out the garbage bags and went to town.  And by town, I mean crazy town.  It's all gone, in the attic, packed away to deal with a few months from now when sanity returns (hah).  The girls are my messy kids and they can create a mismatched mess of madness like no one's biz (and with so many things that aren't even theirs: read my lotions, shampoo, make-up, Brandon's tools, etc).  So I sent them to their room to be "grounded" for the afternoon and packed everything up.  The boys' and girls' bedrooms each have one small box with about six play items, books, puzzles, and board games stayed out.  Also the kitchen set (but with no toys in it) stayed out.  Everything else, gone.  And guess what, they've played better the last few days with next to nothing and it takes us about five minutes to clean up at night.  Hallelujah.

Moving our Chrysalis caterpillars into the butterfly habitat and checking on them daily to see for any changes.  With the cold weather this week, we've been wrapping the kids up in blankies on the couch and calling them our Chrysalis babies.  You should hear how hysterically cute the word "Crysalis" is coming out of our two and a half year old Violet's mouth.

Volunteering in Grey's class as the Mystery Reader on Monday.  I wanted so bad to tell him on the way to the bus stop that morning, but I kept my secret and then surprised him later in the afternoon.  Although from my clues "I've rode an elephant in Thailand" and "I have a vehicle named Sheila" kind of were easy to figure out it was me! I read A Tale of Two Beasts in my wacky character voices and then read another book, My Friends/Mis Amigos that is half English/half Spanish which was a big hit with the first graders.  Grey was so proud to have me there and it basically made my whole week to see his smile.

Receiving and Reading our scholarship applications for our annual family high school senior at our alma mater (our May act of kindness for the past nine years!).  It is always so inspiring to read about the incredible things young people are doing in our community and ways in which they have role models to the kids' coming up through the grades after them.  We have to make our final decision this week and it's going to be a tough year to choose!

Making Pepper steak from this recipe, the kids made Taco Tuesday, a family favorite Chicken and Gravy over mashed potatoes in the slow cooker and we splurged on a big daddy and wings one night!  We also enjoyed blubeberry cookies (they tasted like muffin tops!) and surprise monkey bread as an afternoon/pre-baseball snack.